1. Solid background in Operating Systems (Admin level experience in Windows/*nix - preferably with some certs in this area such as an MCSE, RHCE, SCSA, etc) 2. Solid background in Networking (Admin level experience - preferably with some certs in this area such as a CCNA/CCNP) 3. Solid background in Programming (comfortable with languages like C, Perl, Python, Ruby, SQL, etc - some documented work on an open source project might be a good resume stuffer for this)<end of quote>

That's what i like about security it consolidates the above knowledge together or it makes you think out of the box if i can use this words in here. that is think differently about the systems/networks/applications you are trying to run/manage. In brief it is approcable from all different angles, just work your way through from the angle you love most

1. Solid background in Operating Systems (Admin level experience in Windows/*nix - preferably with some certs in this area such as an MCSE, RHCE, SCSA, etc) 2. Solid background in Networking (Admin level experience - preferably with some certs in this area such as a CCNA/CCNP) 3. Solid background in Programming (comfortable with languages like C, Perl, Python, Ruby, SQL, etc - some documented work on an open source project might be a good resume stuffer for this)<end of quote>

That's what i like about security it consolidates the above knowledge together or it makes you think out of the box if i can use this words in here. that is think differently about the systems/networks/applications you are trying to run/manage. In brief it is approcable from all different angles, just work your way through from the angle you love most

glad you like it, that post was by the founder of LearnSecurityOnline.com Joe McCray

bigtone82 wrote:I'm completing my MCSA at the moment for my position here and theN i'm going to go into CCNA training, get some switches/routers and set up a virtual network. In the meantime, work with linux at home and get a handle on the OS and go from there I think.

Bit of late input here and you may already know of this, but check out GNS3 - http://www.gns3.net/ . As the site says, it's a graphical network simulator. There's a few of these floating around and they're excellent for practising your network skills without shelling out for actual physical kit. Hope this is helpful.

cheers for the link. Haven't come across this in the past, I've used (and paid for) Boson Netsim which is decent. I'm downloading now, hopefully should be good (and hopefully the Win Binaries will run under Vista ).

well just like him i my self am in IT and i just started messing with the security part of it. I have been hacking for about a week now im not too good yet but i hope to get more knowledge and then be EHC.

All of the suggestions have been great. Best suggestions i have seen is to read books and maybe get yourself a free distro of slackware or ubuntu. Learn the linux terminal and network configurations. Best way to learn linux is to ins the prog and use it. rid yourself of microsoft products as much as possible.